Taggle is working with the Northern Territory Power & Water Corporation to help a remote community with its water security and waste treatment capacity.

In communities where the cost of producing potable water (and disposing of waste water) is high, the value of having access to real time data, and following up with a strong community engagement program to adjust behaviour is significant, and in many cases can remove the need for high-cost capacity upgrades.

The Northern Territory Power & Water Corporation started a trial of our technology in a remote community that included a weekly leak-detect analysis and follow-up by staff on the ground.

Initial data found that 23 of the 48 meters showed leaky behaviour, leaking at a combined rate of approximately 43 kL per day. This accounted for 66% of daily usage for these meters and almost 100% of minimum use levels, with the worst leaking at over 700 litres per hour.

After staff follow-up, the data changed dramatically to show there were 10 less meters with leaky behaviour and an overall 80% reduction in leaking to 13kL per day. The leaks accounted for 60% of minimum use levels with the worst now leaking at 200 litres per hour.

Further analysis showed night-time usage reduced by 50% from the trial start to three months later – a strong indicator of the level of leaks in the system. This was achieved by a combination of access to the data and strong community follow up.